IF FOLLOWING religion and offering prayers becomes not everyone’s priority then some of them boost themselves with the support of their counselors and mentors, as they call it. But to people who worship idols and believe in God, it is only at the doors of the almighty they feel relieved and morally heightened. Some of the strong believers in God address non-religious people as immoral and unethical. The stereotype attached to atheists who are labeled as ‘immoral’ is true to not many but to some of the religious people.
To most of the students who were asked about the stereotype they had to say that it is cool to be an atheist and also depends on their perspective of studying religion and praying to God.
“It is cool, it is their choice. I believe in God and that does not mean I am completely ethical and all clean, without making any mistakes. It is the way you look at it,” said Saheli Choudhari, who is a firm believer of Goddess Durga.
But revealing the point of view of a priest, Shivanna, at T C Palya, who said that the reason for today’s youngsters to not respect their elders and end up into dirty habits is because they don’t follow religion and don’t worship God.
Another software engineer has his own say on the issue. “I believe that there is something so called ‘God’ just because I have a hope when things don’t go as planned in life. Only thing I do not understand is what do atheists do when they need moral support,” said Deepak Badami, presently working in the US.
But to the families who have been facing flux of beliefs compared to their ancestral times have a different opinion about the issue.
“I did not have children even after nine years of marriage. I prayed to several gods and I believe in God, in fact I have seen God. When I prayed continuously for more than eight months I was blessed with a son,” said Kariappa, Chennapatna.
He also added that his son is an atheist and does not believe in God. In fact in the whole family his son is the first to be labeled as a nonbeliever and despite of requesting him to offer prayers to the God, which is why he is here in this world, as Kariappa believes, his son pays no heed to his words.
Kariappa, who begins his day from walking to the temple at around 5 am every morning, also believes that there are certain problems if one does not believe in God. This makes them less responsible as there is no fear of anyone and drops him on to the immoral category.
This stereotype is moreover seen in the rural areas, where people firmly believe in God and also think that if certain rituals are not followed and also if someone utters words like, “God does not exist” then that certainly is a big issue to them.
According to a villager, Manju, who is a firm believer of God, if one does not follow the holy book practices then they are sure to land into big troubles. “There is undoubtedly a question mark on their morality,” she added.
Apart from the rural areas of Bangalore, even the distant district Belgaum has been attached with the same stereotype in its rural land. The village called ‘Sulebhavi,’ which is thirteen kilometers far from the Belgaum city is supposed to be the abode of the holy Goddess’ temple called the Sulebhavi Lakshmi.
This place is bound with the beliefs of offering prayers for any troubled mind and for sure they would be blessed with whatever they desir. And if someone talks about not believing in this Goddess’ powers then he for sure gets lots in returns for such a remark.
“I pray to God because I believe in her.
But most of them in the village look down upon them who do not pray and visit temples. This is a wrong attitude, may be also because they are mislead,” said Utsahi Deshpande, an engineering student in Belgaum.
Another resident Surekha Desai, of Belgaum district informs that, in the month of June and July, in a particular village called Mutga, which is seven kilometers far from the city, a fair is celebrated. This particular fair is organised in the name of the Goddess Bhaukeshwari. It is during this time that people from the surrounding areas of this village are forced to not venture out of their homes and go to the city for a week.
This agitates most of the residents here, as these fair organisers believe that if they (the people) do not follow their sets of restrictions then they are unprincipled.
“If after violating their rules something goes wrong in the family then they blame that person for not following what was said and therefore this was doomed to happen,” added Desai.
